The present invention relates to a printed circuit board clamp for housings of electronic, electric and apparatus installations, which clamp is to be secured to at least one fixing stud disposed at the bottom of the housing and provided with a bore, and comprising an elongated body having two ends and an interconnecting neck portion between the ends, and fixing means for securing the printed circuit board to the clamp, both ends of the clamp having a throughgoing aperture for screws or the like and at least one of said apertures being elongatedly shaped, for securing the clamp to said fixing stud.
A wide variety of solutions exist for mounting and securing printed circuit boards (PCBs) within housings. For example, the walls of the housing may incorporate bar-type holders for receiving the PCB. For electronic, electric and apparatus installations, housings are often employed that have bottoms provided with fixing studs having a bore. The purpose of the fixing studs is to serve as fixing points for various components. The fixing usually employs screws. Typically, there are several fixing studs arranged along the sides of the housing. As securing of the PCB to the fixing studs provided in the housing makes holder bars unnecessary, as far as possible the PCB is secured to such studs.
However, securing of a PCB, and also certain other components, to fixing studs provided in the bottom of a housing is not problem-free. A significant problem is that the distance between the fixing studs does not correspond to the distance between the fixing holes provided in the PCB or other component, and thus the fixing points cannot be used as such. In a case of this kind, the securing must be arranged in some other manner, for example by using various clamps. Another problem relating specifically to PCBs is that the PCB cannot be secured to the studs without that the lower surface of the bottom or the soldering spots which extend from the bottom of the PCB make contact with the fixing studs provided in the bottom of the housing. As such a contact cannot normally be permitted, the fixing studs must be machined out from the bottom of the housing, for instance by milling. In some cases, an alternative is to modify the tool with which the housing is produced, so that some of the fixing studs are not formed. Yet modifying the tool is costly. In some cases, annular lift adapters may be used for lifting the PCB to a sufficient degree. Lift adapters do not, however, remove the above-mentioned problem, i.e., the fact that the fixing studs in the bottom of the housing do not match the fixing holes provided in the PCB on account of their relative distances. In this connection, it is to be noted that PCBs today are often Europe-boards and thus have a given size and the distance between the fixing holes is determined (89 mm).